Rising Kite - A story from the world of HWFWM

Khana was forced to admit that silver rank did not completely inure one to pain. It lessened, sure, becoming more a signal rather than something debilitating. But as she was currently facing down the elusive chain bitch halfway into the escape tunnel, this experience had so far let her rediscover the concept.

“Tread the path of Destruction!”

The god-touched power washed through Khana, and she charged at the scrawny woman with the terrifying aura. Each step and motion cracked the stone and sundered the walls, dealing further damage to the beleaguered tunnel. And each step also caused her to come into contact with another chain, glowing links sprouting from the walls, roof and ceiling. The first dozen broke easily, but each sting of contact robbed Khana of some of her momentum.

“Not this time, bitch!” she roared, consuming some more of her own vitality to power the charge further. As before, the pale-haired woman moved like a wraith, retreating before Khana’s charge while conjuring more and more chains. But unlike before, one of Khana’s fists closed on the shoulder of her foe, the armor creaking beneath her grip.

“I got you,” she smiled through bloodied teeth, and started punching. Each strike caused explosive detonations to echo through the tunnel, even if they should be far enough away from anyone still alive to actually be heard. The bitch tried to avoid and dodge of course, but Khana’s grip was strong. At least one in three blows hit, and by Destruction, did that feel good.

“You thought you had me, huh?” Khana growled as she continued attacking. “You thought you were beyond me, just because you could clear out some useless acolytes?” Another punch landed, cracking armor and maybe even bone beneath. “You thought you were beyond pain?!”

Then, Khana’s next punch simply stopped mid-swing, its destructive attack punishing only air.

“Huh?” Khana thought, even looking over to see what was keeping her arm. She shouldn’t have been surprised that it was chains. Loops and loops of them. While she had been pummeling away at her target, more of them had crept close, hovering just above her thrashing limbs before finally contracting. Khana was stuck, and apparently the bitch knew it too.

“Pain can be the perfect distraction,” the pale-haired woman finally spoke, voice chilly and flat. “Whether it is you who suffer or you who inflict the suffering, it does narrow the mind. Bring that focus, to the exclusion of all else.”

All of the chains groaned as they emitted a reddish-purple crackling glow, and Khana did not just stop there. She howled in agony, her spasming hand falling away from the armored shoulder of the woman. The bitch in question didn’t even move, confident in her position.

“And you fell to lord Pain’s ministrations, and thus will get to suffer through even more of them. Tell me, Khana Brax, why did your cell enter Hua-Xi? Who called upon you? Who sponsored your passage?”

Another bout of pain had Khana wheezing out breaths she should no longer need, mind falling back to base bodily functions.

“Go strangle yourself!” she managed to groan, but further words were stolen from her as that was obviously not what the woman wanted to know.

“Why did your cell enter Hua-Xi? Who called upon you? Who sponsored your passage?”

And so they continued. Khana lost all track of time almost immediately, but worse was that she felt her resistance slipping. The pain from those chains was becoming too much.

“Go forth, my herald! Show the world my purview, as you were always meant to do!”

As her god’s words echoed in Khana’s mind, the haze cleared somewhat, and Khana managed another grin, this one even more bloody than the one before.

“Destruction is inevitable!” she called as the light within her started glowing, her vitality consumed to bring forth even more of her god’s grace into this world. The last thing Khana Brax, devout of Destruction, felt was chains contorting around her, before the world was consumed in hallowed conflagration.

The chains of Dancer on the Broken River, disciple of Pain, contorted as one, sharp ridges slicing the detonating cultist of Destruction to pieces. Still, the light kept coming, gathering magic already having reached a critical limit.

With an inward snarl of frustration, River had her chains throw the overloading body parts as far down the corridor as possible, but a silver-ranker using Destruction’s power to kill themselves would always create a most spectacular explosion. River did not look back as she ran along the escape tunnel, mustering all the speed she could manage, but when the shockwave funneled along the tunnel caught her, she still blacked out for a moment.

That moment was enough to wake half buried in rubble, body screaming in pain. But pain was a constant companion and an excellent tool for tempering, so River only thanked her god for the ministrations as she turned intangible for a moment, shooting up from beneath the debris to continue her escape. The whole escape tunnel was falling apart, finally unable to handle the punishment, but with her current speed, she should make it.

“I should have known that Destruction-cultists are never worth the time,” she chided herself as she ran. Still, the lead had been too tempting. Swearing vengeance on a god as subtle as Discord had proven to be a study in futility, and upon gleaning that another cell of Destruction’s clergy were being called to Hua-Xi, River had to investigate. Even if said lead was now crumbling to pieces behind her. Unsurprisingly, Destruction’s clergy was also quite proficient in explosive traps and rituals, making sure that there was rarely anything of worth left by their presence.

“The pain of disappointment is ever sweet. Will you continue to endure the pain of grit and patience as well, my child?”

“Always, my god.” River whispered in reply to her deity’s words. Because there was at least something which she could take with her from this whole endeavor; that everything about the hideout which she had worked her way through indicated that it had been done and ready when the cultists arrived. That meant that there might be a trail, no matter how faint. And River would follow it, as she had done since the fateful encounter at the collapsing Descending Star sect.

“I will bear any pain if it means that the followers of Discord will suffer the same.”

River spoke the words aloud as she ran, dust billowing up from the tunnel behind her. A closed stone door loomed ahead, but River sensed no protective formations, only concealing ones, so she turned intangible once more and passed through, into the fresh night air.

Speaking aloud to herself had become more common in the years that had passed. Even her ascension to silver rank had not alleviated the habit, an ascension which had been hard fought through working her way through any and all unsanctioned work that could be found, or even pretending to be an adventurer and clearing out contract boards in far-out settlements.

“It is embarrassing. And unnecessary,” River once more chided herself, this time in her mind.

“The pain of loneliness is a creeping one, an erosion of the mind. Subtle and flavorful, wouldn’t you say, my child?”

“While I am loath to contradict you, my Lord, I am not lonely,” River protested vehemently. The mere thought was absurd.

Even so, all she got in response was her god’s patient chuckle; like a parent taking his time with a clueless child.

“Again, thank you for taking the cores to Peony while I go to meet with the director,” Kite said as he handed Dragonfly a wooden box.

“And again, no worries, Kite. Peony and Sun are really nice, and I never mind planning out some equipment for the future once our dear crafter hits silver. You sure know where to find them, Kite. That woman is fiendishly good at working with what she’s got,” Dragonfly replied cheerfully. “Still, that messenger looked to have been searching for you for some time. I wonder what the director, - Dobrazza, was it? - wants.”

“With the amount of time we spend going back and forth between the city and the construction site, I’m not surprised that it has been hard to pin me down,” Kite said a bit sheepishly. “I would have thought that it was related to ‘you know what’, but as the messenger stressed that it was private, I’m not so sure.”

“Nothing else to do than show up then. And proceed to tell me all about it later,” Dragonfly said with a wink as she bumped her hip into his. “Meet you at Peony’s later. Brook and Bloom are coming too.”

With those words, Dragonfly set off, easily outpacing the rest of the crowds. Kite would not be surprised if she would traverse the stair-like city by leaping across the rooftops, enjoying her silver-ranked capabilities quite a lot.

What did surprise Kite was the portal which appeared at the plaza which he was currently crossing in order to get to the administration building of Bastion’s adventure society, a portal arch of glass which Kite was very familiar with.

“-at’s that, Rupert? I couldn’t hear you, probably interference with the portal?” Jarvan LanCaire, Gilded’s adventure society branch director, called over his shoulder into the still open dimensional archway. He then froze as he sensed Kite, completely shifting gear from his obvious charade.

“Fanciful fanfare for Fortune! Kite! My favorite adventurer! I know we were bound for the same meeting, but you didn’t have to go through the trouble and wait for me at the plaza,” the regal man said with a brilliant smile.

“Greetings director,” Kite said, trying his best to adjust to the development. “Pardon me, but… the same meeting? I was called by director Dobrazza.”

“Oh I know. I’ve corresponded with her rather frequently these past months,” Jarvan said, sweeping Kite up in his wake as he started to make his way towards the administration building without pause.

“But… how did you know that the meeting would be now? I just got back to the city from the construction site. The messengers had been keeping an eye out for days.”

“Oh that? Sheer happenstance, actually. In my case, one could even call it bad luck. You see, I had this perfect reason to go ahead to Bastion for a few days while waiting for you to eventually get back and let Rupert hold the fort. A little vacation, of sorts. Say, you wouldn’t be amenable to going back out there and returning in three days? Or a week?”

Kite couldn’t help himself smiling at Jarvan’s shamelessness. “And here I thought that you were coming for those essences we discussed before I left for Bastion.”

“Now that you mention it, this would be a good time to discuss that!” Jarvan, true to form, quickly changed tack once more as he smelled the opportunity to procure some condensed magic. “You did hint that you had something more exotic that you found within the queen’s trial.”

The pair had just been admitted into the inner corridors of the administration building which led to director Dobrazza’s office, so Kite felt a bit more secure in flaunting a valuable thing or two. He reached into his most well-hidden dimensional pouch and produced a cube of golden, fervent light with shimmering specks of silver seemingly stuck in a forward motion no matter from which angle you looked at it.

“One zeal essence,” Kite announced, Jarvan’s eyes instantly glimmering with greed. “It was a bit odd to find the concept of zeal related to one of the domains within the queen’s trial where the gods cannot reach, but I assume that it doesn’t have to be religious fervor.”

“Oooohh… That, Kite… That’s a good find,” Jarvan said hungrily. “It’s the most direct route to the Wrath confluence too… Oh that’s a good one indeed… But…” Jarvan seemed to almost forcefully tear his gaze away from it, dramatically looking the other way. “It’s too expensive for me. I couldn’t give you an honest offer and while holding the budget for the rest of the children. We knew from the start that we’d have to work with mostly common and uncommon ones. Praise the gods that it doesn’t give worse sets of power at least.”

“Then I am sorry for tempting you. It’s an honorable sentiment, providing for each and every one in your rather… numerous… flock,” Kite said empathetically, putting the zeal essence away. “But I do have a set of needle, dust and venom which should be decent together.”

“Kite, did I ever say that you were my favorite adventurer?” Jarvan said happily. “That sounds like an affliction specialist in the making. It should be perfect for little Madelle. She’s only twelve, but the girl has a devious and patient mind. Quite the prankster too and- Oh, it seems like Dobrazza has noticed us.”

These days, Kite could also feel the spiritual attention of the other silver-ranker as Dobrazzas aura, its smoldering intensity a lot clearer now that he was also silver rank, swept across the pair when they had reached the doors to her office. Both men flared their own spirits slightly in the way which essence-users announced themselves, and another pulse from within let them know that they were welcome to enter.

“Kite! Jarvan! How good of you to come!” Carmella Dobrazza called from behind her desk, the tall, broad smolder woman even more intense to look at now that Kite’s silver-ranked perception was up for the task.

“You look well, Carmella, especially for one who was trying to poach a person of interest from me just now. You taking the time to invite me to this meeting does lessen the sting somewhat though. A little,” Jarvan called by way of greeting.

“Is your regard for me really so low that you suspect me of such schemes, Jarvan?” Dobrazza ‘tssked’. “It’s not like the council hands out rewards for the recommendations.”

“No, it's just… a matter of pride,” Jarvan grumbled, before mumbling. “And I did call dibs.”

“Directors, I would very much appreciate a bit more clues as to what you are referring to,” Kite noted, breaking into the conversation. While the pair still had their official titles, being the same rank made the more casual interaction feel quite a lot easier.

“Ah, of course, of course,” Jarvan said, waving Kite towards the seats in front of Dobrazza’s desk. “Let’s sit down and have this properly sorted out.”

“Let me just say that I was ecstatic to hear that our up-and-coming silver-ranker would eventually choose to settle within my district,” Dobrazza all but purred. “Not one but three silver-rankers making permanent residence sure did shake up local politics.”

“I suppose this is life managing a wayward branch. Raise them up only to see them run off to fancier cities,” Jarvan said, voice full of mock sadness.

“Directors, please, show mercy upon this young one. I would not have assumed that you called me here to discuss my living arrangements,” Kite pleaded, trying to bring the conversation back on track as they were finally seated.

“Well, Kite, our actual topic was at least tangentially related to that. You’re a silver-ranker now. While they are much more common in some parts of the world, they are still exceptional individuals, wielding more power than normal-rankers can dream of,” Jarvan said, gesturing towards Kite. “Just look at yourself; from an iron-ranker of relatively humble beginnings, you made it to silver in just over four years. Sure, the surge helped a lot, but even without it you would have made good time for someone beginning their journey up in the Autumn lands. This takes a certain kind of drive, but you’ve also made some interesting decisions along the way, be it wrangling young sect disciples or founding the first guild in Hua-Xi in I don’t know how many years. Or decades. All under the guidance of a most competent and handsome branch dire-”

“What Jarvan is trying to say -,” Dobrazza broke in, “- is that you’ve stood out, Kite. You can make a bright future for yourself, be it through further work as an adventurer or if you settle down and wield your growing power and influence in the local setting. We already know that you’ve expressed your… enthusiasm… for partaking in the little investigation we are to undertake in the upcoming years, but other than that; what are your plans for the future?”

Kite took a while to ponder their question. It was obvious that the two were leading up to something, and as his curiosity nagged him onward, the honest reply came easily.

“Honestly? Contracts. The path to gold isn’t a mountain that will climb itself. But from what I gathered, silver-rank is long even for the world elites. So I had hoped to work more to further the guild, maybe even travel some more to find more mentors to help develop my technique. As you might know, Will and Serene will both be leaving for a time, but me and Dragonfly will remain quite the pair of vagabonds if things fall out the way we hope.”

He did omit the mention of the seed beneath the astral space. Not that he didn’t trust the directors in most regards, but that particular matter still felt like something which he wanted to explore on his own.

The two directors gave each other a look, before Dobrazza shrugged. “You go ahead and tell him, Jarvan. You’ve known him the longest.”

This caused the other man to smile widely as he turned to Kite. “While your words would no doubt bring a tear to the eye of any hard-working branch director out there, I - we - would like to add another option to that future. Or rather, quite the opportunity, if I may say so myself. Say, Kite, have you heard of Task Group Gauntlet?”

“I’m sorry to say that I have not,” Kite admitted. “Is that something related to the adventure society? The name doesn’t strike me as local.”

“So the lack of poetic meaning gave it away,” Jarvan chuckled. “But you are correct. Gauntlet is one of several forces organized by the adventure society, where they gather suitable prospects to handle more niche, high-stakes tasks. While their purpose varies, they all aim to cultivate elite forces with members from the different corners of the world. And Gauntlet, in particular, is all about hunting down essence-users operating outside the laws and restrictions of the world.”

“The Red Table, the churches of the shunned gods, users of restricted essences who have avoided conventional contracts of capture, convicted criminals in hiding, smuggling rings carrying restricted magical resources; all of those might be the targets of Task Group Gauntlet,” Dobrazza filled in, counting off each of the categories on her fingers.

“And both Carmella and I have recommended you to the continental council’s administration for consideration to join said group,” Jarvan continued. “You’re a dedicated adventurer Kite, with far more experience than most your age at handling other essence users. How many duels have you already fought? How many local criminals have you hunted down? And most of all, your power set should be supremely useful for the task group. Because when people are the target, taking some alive might be a key opportunity for getting even more information out of them. But combat between essence users is most often a very deadly affair if both parties are out for blood, so it is less common than what you’d think.”

This turned out to be a lot to take in, even for Kite’s silver-ranked mind. He sat back in his chair, processing. “I.. I’m honored for your consideration. Thank- thank you. But would such a group even consider someone like me? You know my origins. I’m sure that there are plenty of young masters and mistresses, or whatever those are called in other parts of the world, who are more suitable.”

“Oh, they would indeed. We have already received word that the application is approved. Should you decide to accept, you will have a spot in their next batch of recruits,” Dobrazza said.

“I am? But-” Kite began, but Jarvan broke in.

“Kite, the task group is looking for potential most of all. Should you accept, you will go through rigorous training. If you were already set in your ways, that would be a more difficult process. But you’re still young and have displayed remarkable adaptability. Those managing the task group found your resumé and powers a good fit.”

“It shouldn’t hurt to add that the pay is… Well, let us just say that the adventure society is a very wealthy organization, and when it wants specific people for specific tasks, it can afford them,” Dobrazza said, eyes twinkling.

“This… this is a lot to take in, but only a fool would discount the opportunity. When do we-” Kite began, but stopped himself. He had thought to ask when he and Dragonfly needed to give their answer. Only, that nowhere in this conversation had anyone been mentioned but him. Even the meeting itself had come with an invitation for him only. It made him realize how much he had assumed that at least the two of them would be able to stick together when the others left. And how much the thought of leaving her behind, even for a time, wrenched at his heart.

Apparently, some of his emotions leaked to the surface of his aura, as both directors gave each other a long look.

“Think about it,” Jarvan urged, tone uncharacteristically gentle. “Joining the task group would not mean that you leave for good, but a time of training followed by being occasionally portaled in for contracts where your power set is most needed. And remember that the life of a silver ranker is a long one. Finding strength in time apart is something which we all must become used to, sooner or later.”

Kite left the meeting, feeling a bit dazed as excitement and guilt warred inside him as he considered this new opportunity. That was why he only realized that an unknown silver-ranked aura had locked onto him when the owner of said aura had already crossed half the plaza outside the building.

“You there! Are you the one called the Pathbreaker?” a silver-ranked human woman called. She was clad in the robes of some sect Kite didn’t remember the name of.

“Intrepid sword?” he thought as she approached, continuing to speak.

“You humiliated my junior brother and my sect with your honorless path back at bronze rank. Now that you have managed to claw your way to silver, it is high time someone taught you your place, outcast. Just needing to travel so far to find you has been a stain enough on my pride already. I, Cord of Diamonds, challenge you to a clash of paths!”

“I suppose that director was right in one thing,” Kite thought wryly to himself as he prepared to answer her challenge. “I do tend to find myself in these situations a lot, don’t I?

“Dragonfly, can we talk privately for a moment?” Kite murmured where he sat beside her on a couch inside the house owned by Peony’s family.

Bloom was currently regaling them all with a most fanciful reenactment of a fight against a grass fisher, using his glittering dust to create a very lifelike illusion of the monster. At least if you discounted the fact that the original sinuous green body of the reptile was now made of shining motes of gold.

She nodded, and the two slipped out into the garden, unnoticed by the others present. Neither had Serene’s expert aura control, but they had trained enough with the priestess to at least avoid casual attention as the others were distracted.

“What’s the matter? Aren’t you ecstatic? This whole ‘task group’ sounds like an opportunity made for you,” Dragonfly asked as she settled down next to Kite at the edge of a wooden porch. The clouded evening sky overhead did little to chase away the gloom, but the few lanterns scattered across the garden lent at least some level of comfort to the atmosphere.

“It is. But that is not what pains me,” Kite said, turning to her. “It’s more the feeling that I’m leaving you behind. That silver rank and all the ambitions of each of us just keep pulling us apart.”

From his companion’s blank expression, the one she always got when she was processing something she hadn’t considered, Kite could glean a bit of her thought and he couldn’t help but smile.

“See? You hadn’t even considered that part, no? You were happy for me from the moment I told you. That’s who you are, my ardent Dragonfly; passionate and excited, always ready to support those who matter to you and that’s why the thought of leaving when the others have already done so makes my heart ache. Don’t misunderstand; I have full confidence you will thrive while I’m away - the world isn’t ready for a silver-ranked Dragonfly after all - but that isn’t what the feeling is about. You deserve companionship and opportunity as much as the rest of us.”

The words had come spilling out, as they often did when the pair talked of more serious matters. But Kite held true to their first promise; to be honest. And as they had practiced plenty over the years, he felt mostly relieved to have his thoughts out in the open.

“Now that you mention it… What will I do?” Dragonfly eventually ventured, her voice pensive as she leaned against his shoulder. “I was so caught up in things that I didn’t even consider that. All of you are leaving, at least for a time…”

The pair sat in silence, Kite reaching out and laying his arm around her.

“The thought is kind of sad,” she eventually continued, voice small.

“It is,” Kite agreed. “It most certainly is.”

“And even when you return, which wouldn’t be too long if I understood things correctly, this might still be something that will continue to call you away. I don’t think that there is any lack of work for this task group, especially if it caters to the whole world.”

She straightened a bit, and looked up toward him. He met her eyes, heart warming a bit at the hint of a spark in her gaze. He had seen it many times before, and so far, nothing had made it truly wink out.

“You know what this means?” she eventually asked.

“Please tell.”

“This means that it is high time for me to really think about the future as well. I should have, long ago, I suppose. But ‘killing all the monsters in the world’ was the dream of a child. It sounds like I have to keep a lookout for opportunities to temper that into something more befitting of where I am today.

Don’t get me wrong, I will miss you terribly when you are gone,” she continued, rapping his chest lightly with her knuckles. “Even if I had been offered, your opportunity would not have been a good fit for me. Can you imagine me trying to act all professional and take down scum while keeping some of them alive? But you better try and remember some great places if we eventually leave this country together. Preferably with great food and lots of monsters to carve through. Even better if there are swarms. I love fighting swarms. So satisfying.”

As she spoke, Dragonfly kept her aura bare for him. Kite could easily feel the worry and sadness which she was wrapping in excitement and bravado. But he also knew that if Dragonfly wanted to cry, she would have. And if she had been angry, she would have shown it. So he supported her choice of coping, and squeezed her closer.

“With the right dimensional bag, I can even bring you back some fresh samples. Of food, that is. The monsters will have to wait for you to come to them.”

“Heavens as my witness, come to them I will,” she swore, voice full of mock solemnity.

The pair of practice spears clashed with force that would easily break mundane stone. Will immediately changed his grip, spinning the butt of the weapon towards Kite’s head while already stepping to prepare for his next attack.

“When you said that you wanted a moment of private farewell, I will admit that this was not what I expected,” Kite said, fending off the incoming spear and positioning himself to avoid the next.

“Well, what did you expect then?” Will retorted, pushing hard. Kite was beyond decent with a spear these days, but the singular focus of his friend meant that he still couldn’t hope to prevail on martial skill alone.

“A drink? Reminiscing of fond times? Speculating about the future? Vowing to see each other again?” Kite fired off, slowly but surely getting pushed more and more onto the defensive.

“Bah! Those are all given things. We will see each other again, Kite, heavens as my witness. You know what task we will undertake in time. The evil we will dispatch,” Will exclaimed, pushing forward with a barrage of thrusts which turned his practice weapon into a blur. “Besides, what better farewell than to measure ourselves against each other, keeping it in our memories so that we can clearly measure our growth when we reunite?”

“I suppose that is true,” Kite said, getting an idea. “Then I also suppose that I have to unleash my full potential. ‘No powers’ does leave me some room, after all.”

At his words, Kite’s tattoos lit up. Four more arms appeared, each pair armed with another short spear. This allowed Kite to step into Will’s next strike while blocking it, a move that would have left someone wide open. At least someone without another two pairs of arms and enough mental processing to compensate.

Will was forced to leap back to avoid a pair of one-handed thrusts from the lighter weapons, and this time it was Kite’s turn to go on the offensive. Kite had practiced quite a lot with his new arms, and quickly came to one easy conclusion; the additional limbs would most often be left with one-handed weapons only. It was already quite a challenge to find both angle and leverage enough to make efficient attacks, and the thought of swinging three heavy weapons two handed at the same time was not a feasible one except in very specific circumstances.

His ability to project the strikes did help, as well as many of Kite’s special attacks not requiring very forceful strikes to take effect, but Kite still felt like mastering his prize from the queen’s trial would still take time.

The sparring continued at a frantic pace, Will adapting to leverage Kite’s incomplete fighting style, trying to get the arms tangled up in one another. Eventually the pair disengaged, the standstill having continued for long enough.

“My friend, I hope you know that I will miss you,” Kite said as they leaned the practice equipment toward the trunk of the lone tree in Will’s personal garden.

“I will miss you too. You, Dragonfly, Serene… Even Gold, our latest addition. When I first set out on this path, I had assumed that the path towards the heavens had to be a lonely one, as the saying often goes. But the heavens would curse me for a liar if I said that I wasn’t pleasantly surprised with how things turned out.”

“From where you’re going, it sounds like teamwork will be something for you to continually get used to. I’ve only heard a little about the Storm Kingdom, but it sounds like their local adventuring culture is as far from ours as one can come.”

“Father did point that out to me, which was why he suggested it,” Will agreed. “I suppose it will be a novel experience too. It feels like the world now lies before me. But it is also a comfort to know that the road, should I prove strong enough to walk it, will eventually also take me back home.”

Even after years of knowing her, it was still hard to not get distracted while talking to Serene. With her increasing power, she seemed to subconsciously weave more and more layers into the subtle song which constantly surrounded her. Mostly, she contained it through her powers of sound manipulation, but as she sat next to Kite at a bench in the temple square, she let it leak out into the surroundings.

Most passersby didn’t seem to consciously take note of it, but they all seemed to get more of a spring in their step. And those perceptive enough to notice often directed a respectful glance or nod towards the priestess.

“Do you know where you will head first, high priestess,” Kite said, emphasizing the new title. Serene’s inauguration had been a formal affair and, unsurprisingly, filled with song.

“The church will send a portal courier to Convergence. From there we will head west to Estercost. After that… We will go where the goddess and the church sends us for a time. Song may be viewed as a frivolous goddess by some, but I’d say that they underestimate what her power can achieve.”

“As someone who has seen and felt your presence for years, my friend, I do not doubt it for a second,” Kite said, looking around at all the people invigorated by Serene’s mere presence. “And I am very glad that Gold is with you. I will admit that it was not what I had imagined when first meeting the man, but with the connection the two of you seem to have, I am glad for the lesson. But I will miss you, Serene. I hope you will return, be it for the upcoming investigation or just to visit. There will always be room for you. I made sure to have a lot of them built, after all.”

“I will miss you too, Kite. Life has not gone the way I imagined, but that has been for the best. And with your opportunity, I am sure that you will stay busy as well,” Serene said, turning to regard him as she continued. “How did Dragonfly take it?”

“Better than I expected. I would have understood if she had been disappointed in me for also considering leaving for a time. But she was genuinely happy for me. And even though I could feel the sadness too, the happiness was no mask. Still, she has felt just a little bit more lost lately. And a bit more… vigorous… in terms of intimacy.”

Serene giggled at Kite’s slight fluster, the sounds like wind chimes playing in the breeze. “That does sound like her in all respects; driven by her inner fire but still unable to help clutching what is dear to her just a little bit closer while there is still time. She will no doubt find her way. Dragonfly feels like a person who will inevitably stumble upon meaning through sheer force of passion.”

In the distance, the pair could see Gold walking up the steps towards the temple square. He nodded to them and remained at a distance, giving the friends their space. But his presence indicated that it was now time for Serene to depart.

“I see that we will not be able to steal any more time from the inevitable march of the world,” Kite said, rising along the priestess. “May your path take you to the heavens and beyond, Serene. And hopefully also back here.”

“The same to you, Kite. Walk with the song of the goddess clear in your heart. I will try to sing loud enough for the winds to carry mine to you all as well. Wherever you may be.”